During the galacticwar between the Hutt Empire and the Galactic Republic, the Hutt Empire began to enforce laws that meant that independent organizations had to have official permission to operate within Hutt space. Initially, Venator Furtificus, Supreme Commander of the Hutt Empire, arranged a meeting with the criminal group named the Sontebren Crew. The leaders, Erin Sontebren and Malkav Dem, arrived at the Hutt Palace on the planetNal Hutta to discuss terms. The pair, however, did not show the degree of humility expected by Furtificus or the leader of the Hutt Empire, Gorrbag, and so Furtificus planned to have them killed. Gorrbag, having known Eris' father, instead intervened, and had the pair ejected from the Hutt Palace.[1] Shortly after their ejection, however, the pair were killed.[2]

The Sontebren Crew elected a new leader, Blake Zeth, with the CatharPoknor Tiwsferum as his deputy. With a new leadership in the Sontebren Crew, the Hutt Empire invited the Sontebrens for a discussion of receiving permission to operate in the Hutt Empire once more. The new leaders, unlike their predecessors, showed subservience to Furtificus and Chairman Gorrbag, and so received permission to operate under the conditions that they did not take important contracts from the Republic, and that they paid tax to the Empire. In the same meeting, Furtificus established the same deal with the Sontebren Crew's allies, the Phoenix Corps, and asked them to remain in the Hutt Palace whilst Hutt technicians upgraded their ships.[3] This, however, was a deception to destroy the two groups. Shortly after the meeting, Furtificus met with the Sontebren leader, Blake Zeth, and informed him that there would be another meeting called between the two groups, and that, in the meeting room, there would be a coded locker which he would have the code too. In this locker there would be a blaster, and Furtificus instructed him to use it to kill the Phoenix Corps leaders. After this meeting, Furtificus met with Poknor Tiwsferum, and told him the same thing as Blake. With Tiwsferum, however, Furtificus gave him a better weapon, and instructed him to kill Blake too. Furtificus promised a hefty reward if this was done to plan. [4]

Some time after the initial meeting, Furtificus called the leaders to another meeting. Held in a secure room in the Hutt Palace, with one sole door, Furtificus meant to inform them that the supposed repairs to their ships were complete. Having called them together and made an introductory speech, Furtificus feigned a call from the Chairman, and told the group leaders that he would be leaving the room for a moment. In the meantime, he said that he would lock the door for their own safety. Having departed from the room, he instructed a squad of guards to take position outside of the door in case his captives managed to escape, and proceeded to watch the fight from a safe location. [5]

Once Furtificus had left, Zeth and Tiwsferum retrieved their weapons. Johann Winslow, leader of the Phoenix Corps, was shocked at the betrayal. Furtificus, having insisted that no weapons be brought into a peaceful meeting room, had ensured that Winslow and his deputy, Jacob Roseberg, were unarmed. Winslow initially tried to negotiate with Tiwsferum to ensure the deaths of Zeth and Roseberg, stating that he would reward the Cathar richly. Tiwsferum refused the offer, and killed Winslow, Roseberg being killed shortly afterwards. Zeth's weapon, having had a small amount of ammunition and being weaker than Tiwsferum's chaingun, provided him with little defense. Tiwsferum, despite having been friends with Zeth for many years, killed his former boss, knowing that the Hutt Empire would kill him otherwise.[5]

During the time that the meeting had been taking place, Furtificus had instructed his employees in the Raider's Coalition and the Hutt Empire, such as his son Unassa Furtificus, to trap certain members of both groups. Once they had done this, Furtificus instructed them to demand that their captives join the Raider's Coalition and/or the Hutt Empire. If they refused, Venator Furtificus instructed to have them killed. This meant that, after the deaths of the group leaders, all opposition was dead or his ally. It also meant that he had more employees under his command.[6]

The assets and supplies of the two groups were raided and added to the Hutt Empire's supplies. Doctor Lucius Stark of the Hutt Empire later used experimental battle suits, created by the Phoenix Corps, to design the General Defense Unit battle droids seen on Nal Hutta for security purposes later on during the war. Poknor Tiwsferum, having survived the deaths of the various other members, was given the position of Captain in the Hutt military.[7]

The Showdown in the Hutt Palace was Role-Played on the Star Wars Role Playing site TheStarWarsRP.Com, during its Hutt War timeline. Thomas Rattim, Role Player of Venator Furtificus, and Phil Black, Role Player of Gorrbag, decided that there were too many independent factions in the timeline. Mulluns instructed Rattim to find a way of destroying some of them, which Rattim did.[5]